Chapter Text
A fire had started at a restaurant that spred further through the building. Civilians that didn’t evacuate in time are now trapped in the building. Smoke fills the rooms and rise up in the sky, forming a dark cloud over the city. A crowd has gathered around the building, even if they should leave the area to avoid the smoke. Ladybug, Chat Noir and Caprikid are there to stop the fire and rescue the civillians from the building.
Not too far from the disaster is a black car parked with three people in it. The driver is a man named Carl, in the passenger seat is a woman named Claudia and in the backseat is another man named Clive seated who is the muscles of the group. They all watch from the distance to see the progress of the heroes. They can see Ladybug swinging around carrying people in her arms. They can’t get a clear view of where she place them but it looks like it is on the pavement outside the restaurant. The two male heros can be seen jumping out windows with civillians, Chat Noir even destroys a wall to help more people. A firetruck is parked next to the building and the firefighters are doing their best to put out the flames.
Ladybug is now swinging with her yoyo far away from the building, carrying someone. Carl start the car ans drive towards Ladybug’s direction. They then spot her swinging away from where she first headed, but now she is on her own. Whoever she carried must have been dropped of. The trio in the car stays in place for a while to observe if she will come back. They don’t see the burning building but can still see the smoke rise in the sky and a few people are running away from the building’s direction. A few signs of that there is still fire. Claudia keep looking up in the sky to see if there are any changes. She notice that the smoke cloud stoped growing and after a minute a swarm of magical ladybugs sweep across the sky.
”She has used her magic to restore all the damages now.” says Claudia. ”Wait to see if she will come by here again.”
Just like she expected they see Ladybug swing past them. Carl starts the car again and follow her direction. They notice that she stayed at a roof top but can’t see what is going on there so they wait for a while with the car still running. They don’t have to wait long because she swings away from the roof but this time is carrying a person. Probably the same one she carried away earlier. The car follows them, close enough to not lose track of them but far enough to not be notice. They see Ladybug land on the pavement on an empty street where she drops the person she were carrying. They stop and watch her stand with a boy they don’t recognize. He has red hair, wears paint stained overalls and carries a shoulder bag. He and Ladybug stands there and talk for a short while.
”Do you think Ladybug knows him?” ask Claudia the others in the car.
”There is a possibility if she gives him lift this far.” answers Carl. ”All the others in the building were dropped near at the street. Wonder what they are talking about.”
Ladybug and the boy wave each other of before Ladybug swings away. The boy walks away on his own.
”Should we take him in?”
”I think he could be a good lead. The boss might get something out of him.”
The boy they are stalking is Nathaniel who has his eyes on his phone to write a text message and doesn’t notice that he is being followed from behind. Carl drive the car closer to the red haired boy’s left and stop just a bit infront him so Claudia can step out. She walks towards Nathaniel and he stops right in his track. He feel threatened but don’t know how to react. He is too distracted by the woman facing him that he doesn’t notice Clive step out from the car’s left side and walks around the car to come behind him. A huge arm wrap around him to pin his arm against his body and a hand is pressed over his mouth. He is lifted up from the ground like if he weighs not more than a cat. Claudia opens the the car’s right door to the backseat for Clive to step in with Nathaniel who is now kicking and struggling in Clive’s grasp. He sits down with Nathaniel on his lap and clams his thighs against the boy’s legs to stop him from kicking. Nathaniel continues to struggle to get free but the muscle man of the group is really strong. Claudia close the door for them and steps in the passenger seat. The car drive away now faster than they have been driving before but not so fast to raise any suspicions.
Marinette just detransform after landing on her balcony. Today’s event was really intense but everything turned out well. No one died and her magic had healed anyone who got injured. Especially Caprikid who were burned pretty badly and had to be removed from the area. When she came back efter everything were fixed Nathaniel were completely restored. She trusted that everything would be fine for him when she left him.
She walked down to her room to prepare herself before Adrian arrived. She didn’t get the time though. The hatch to her room knocked and Adrian peaked his head in.
”Good afternoon, Marinette!” he cheerfully said as he stepped up. ”We now have the whole weekend before us together.”
Marinette jump up to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. ”And I will make the best of this time.” She squeeze him in her arms and press her face against his shoulder. She senses an odd smell from him. ”Do you smell like smoke?”
Adrian freezes up for a moment. He didn’t think that the smell of the smoke from the fire would stay on him. He feel like he should have stoped by at home to take a shower. ”Yeah, sorry about that. There were a fire in the city and the smell is probably from that”
Marinette tries to play surprised but in her mind she wonders if she ever saw Adrian in the area of the fire. ”Oh, how horrible! Did someone get hurt?”
”Everything went well. Ladybug fixed it all.” he assures Marinette. ”If you are bothered by the smell I could go home to take a shower and change…”
”No, no. It is not that bad. I didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it.” Marinette drags Adrian towards her window seat and both sit down cuddling with each other. She lean back with her head resting on Adrian’s chest. ”I love to have you here with me no matter what.”
Adrian smile over her words. He embraces her and rest his head on top of her’s. Carefully Marinette lift up her shoulder to her nose and take a sniff. She does also smell like smoke. Hopefully Adrian doesn’t notice it and think it is only him who smells.
Marc stands on Pont Neuf waiting on Nathaniel. He had reseved a text at 15:41 that he would arrive at the bridge in about 15 minutes, the time is now 16:19. Marc doesn’t like to stress others. He had send a text to Nathaniel when he arrived at Pont Neuf at 15.45 to inform that he is there. He send another at 16:08 to see if Nathaniel were on his way but has still not reseved any responds. Nathaniel had said in his text that he would be late but now he is even more late than what he claimed he would be. He had heard that there were a fire in the city and the traffic stopped for a while in that area until everything were clear. That could be a reason. But why didn’t he respond to any of Marc’s messages? Maybe Nathaniel’s phone battery died? Would it be too much to send another text? He decided to do it anyways. He pick up his phone and type ’Is everything fine? You haven’t answered any of my text. I am still waiting for you at Pont Neuf.’ He sends the message and decides that if Nathaniel doesn’t answer in the next 10 minutes, he will walk to his home to see if he is there or if his parents know anything. It is beginning to get chilly in the air.
Nathaniel is seated on a folding chair with his wrist and ankles bound. A cloth is between his teeth and another is tied over his mouth to keep him silenced. He had been panicking since he were grapped on the street and during the car ride. He didn’t even pay attention to where they had stoped or what building they took him to. Now when he have been seated here for a while he had calmed himself down enough to take in his surroundings. He is in a oval room with metal plates for walls. It is high to the ceiling and spacious. It were clear that they needed space with all the computer equipment they have. Desks filled with the equipment and papers are placed out to form a half circle in the center of the room. He had to travel down with a lift so maybe it is like a bunker, but it is so clean and well attended that it feels more like an office space in a secret lair. It even smell clean but the air feels tight, like not enough air comes down here.
Nathaniel had tried to twist his wrists to see if he could loosen the ropes but he is guarded by Clive who is sitting behind him and another man standing to his left who’s name seems to be Claude. Clive is sitting in a smal sofa that is big enough for two people but he is filling it on his own. He is a big man made of muscles and Nathaniel thought that he could probably be a challenge to Adrian’s bodyguard. Claude is tall and very slim, leaning back on a desk just glaring down at Nathaniel. He compares the man’s gaze with a surveillance camera and it makes him feel nervous. Nathaniel tries to avoid looking at Claude the best as he can.
To his right can he see Carl and Claudia go thru his bag together with a man who appear to be their boss. Both Carl and Claudia are both in good shape but the boss looks to be made of pure fat. Nathaniel can’t help but wonder how the office chair he is sitting in can hold under all of that weight. He is also very pale, unlike the others whom look like they go outside and let their skin be touch by the sun. Another woman, whom he doesn’t know the name of, is sitting by a computer and looks like she is awaiting orders. Six people in total. Nathaniel tries to calculate if he can fight them if he got the chance to transform. Carl, Claudia, Clive and Claude could be a challenge but the woman at the computer is short and chubby so she might not be a fighter, as well as the boss. Nathaniel looks around the room to see if there is somewhere he could hide to transform but the only door he can find is the lift across the room. With his feet bound together and his hands stuck behind him it would be impossible to get himself there even if he wasn’t guarded by two men. Nathaniel looks down to his chest pocket and see Ziggy look up at him with worried eyes. They are both thinking the same thing, he knows that.
The boss, together with Carl and Claudia, continue to go thru Nathaniel’s bag and place his belongings on the table. A ping is heard from the bag. That is a text signal from his phone.
”That sounded like his phone.” says Carl and rummaged more thru Nathaniel’s bag for the phone.
Nathaniel is not sure of what they are looking for or why they even kidnapped him in the first place. A lot of different scenarios has played in his head but they all worries him. The only thing he can do for now is to watch them and see what they will say or do.
”We found his student id.” the boss says and hold it up. ”His name is Nathaniel Kurtzberg. Caroline! Look up to see what information you can find about him.” he says to the woman by the computer and gives her the id-card. Now Nathaniel knows that her name is Caroline.
The boss doesn’t even stand up from the chair, he rolls over to her still sitting. Caroline looks at the card and type in something in the computer. The boss and the others continue to look thru Nathaniel’s belongings. Flipping thru pages of his sketchbook, textbooks and notebook. ”He is a pretty good artist, I see.” says Carl.
”Nathaniel Kurtzberg, age 15.” Caroline speaks up. ”I can see that he is the son of Shirel and Aton Kurtzberg. Shirel Kurtzberg is a well established architect with a monthly income of 5 000 €.”
”A wealthy family.” Claudia respond to Caroline’s statement. ”Should we try to get a ransom for him?”
Nathaniel feel a huge lump in his stomach over hearing that. Were that their plan all along? To ransom him from his parents? He wondered how much they would try to demand, or if his parents would even be able to pay. Those thoughts stopped when he heard the boss speak again.
”No, we have no use for that.”
Nathaniel gets confused. What could be their goal if money wasn’t even interesting for them?
”I found his phone!” Carl calls out holing Nathaniel’s phone up for everyone to see.
”Give it to me.” the boss order. After being handed the phone he took a quick look at it and then rolled on his office chair up to Nathaniel. The boy tried to lean back away from the boss as he came closer. He held up the phone and for the first time, since Nathaniel were taken here, he talked to him. ”Just make our work easier for us, Nathaniel. Give us the code to unlock it. Hold up your fingers to show the numbers.”
Hearing the boss say his name like he is trying to be friendly just feels disgusting to Nathaniel. He refuse to be cooperative.
Clive, who is still sitting behind Nathaniel, looks at his hands but he holds them in fists. ”He doesn’t hold up any fingers.”
”Maybe it just zeros.” Claudia half joked but continued more serious. ”Or he is really determent to hide his secrets.”
Whatever they are looking for, Nathaniel has none of his secrets in his phone. No proofs of his secret identity as a superhero or connections to any of the other heros. Still, he doesn’t want them to search through his phone like they did with his bag. Having any of your privacy exposed, especially like this, feels violating. He doesn’t want to give in. He continue clench his fists and just looks down at the floor to avoid any eye contact.
The phone pings again and the boss looks at it’s lock screen and see the notification. ”Someone named Marc Anciel has send three texts. Is that someone important?” Nathaniel looks up with wide open eyes and feel the lump in his stomach grow bigger and his heart beat faster. The boss turn around to Caroline. ”Can you search up the name Marc Anciel?”
Nathaniel panics and immediately waves with his hands that are still bound. He tries to speak but the only sound he can make are muffled plead.
”I think you wants to speak.” Clive tells everyone.
The boss turn to Nathaniel again. ”Tell us the code to your phone.”
Nathaniel follows their order and holds up his fingers to tell the numbers. Clive looks close at his hands. ”1, 7, 0, 8, 2, 8.”
The boss type in the numbers and the phone unlocks. ”Good job, kid.” he says to Nathaniel with a smirk and turn away to go through the phone with Carl and Claudia. Nathaniel watch them, nervous over what they will do with what they find.
”Boss!” Caroline calls out. ”I found something interesting about the boy.” The boss rolls over to Caroline by the computer. ”Nathaniel have published comic books based on Ladybug and Chat Noir. It says here on Collége Francoise Dupont’s webpage.”
That information becomes very interesting for the boss. He rolls over to Nathaniel once again and pulls down the cloth from his mouth and take out the other between his teeth. Nathaniel coughs after finally having mouth free.
”Now I need you to talk.” says the boss to Nathaniel. ”These comics you made about Ladybug and Chat Noir, where did you get the stories?”
Nathaniel is hesitant to speak to the boss but at this moment he can’t really stand up against him. Despite sitting down all the time and just rolled himself around in an office chair, the boss radiated authority and power in the room.
”They are all fictional.” murmur Nathaniel.
”You must have gotten the stories from somewhere. Did you get them from Ladybug herself?”
Nathaniel tries to not tell him more than necessary. He holds himself to short answers. ”No.”
”But she knows about them? If we could find them this easy then she probably have heard about them. Right?”
Nathaniel swallows. ”Yes, she knows.”
The boss lean forward, so close to Nathaniel that he can smell the boss’s odor. ”So you have talked to her.” That is more of a statement than a question.
Nathaniel tries to play as ordinary of a civillian that he could. ”Yes. She have saved me a few times and she acknowledge that she have read them.” That part is true. So far the boss only seemed ask about if Nathaniel had a connection to Ladybug. They may not know more about him.
”There were fire in the city today. A few heroes were there and Ladybug saved a lot of different people. She saved you?”
Nathaniel is relieved that they don’t seem to know about his secret identity.
”Yes, she did. I were one of many she saved.”
”She gave you a long lift from the fire and afterwards she talked to you. What was that about?” Now the boss spoke more accusatory.
Nathaniel tried to think of a good excuse. The best he could think of right now is to go back to what they talked about earlier.
”I… I didn’t notice how far she took me and she just commented on my comic work.”
The boss let out a huge sigh like he got irritated and exhausted from their conversation.
”Hey, boss!” Caroline interrupted them. ”Did you say someone named Marc Anciel were texting the phone earlier?”
The boss checked the phone. ”Yes, that is correct. How so?”
”It says here on the school’s webpage that Marc Anciel is the author and Nathaniel Kurtzberg is the illustrator.” she continued.
”Of course! He writes the stories so he knows more. Maybe we should take in this Marc too.” the boss says with a grin.
”No!” Nathaniel burst out louder than what he have spoken earlier. ”No, please! Leave him alone! He don’t know-” He is silenced by the cloth being showed into his mouth again by Claude.
The boss writes a respond to Marc. ”Meet me at 25 Rue Ganneron, the curve next to Cemetiére de Montmartre.” He handed Nathaniel’s phone to Claudia who then leaves with Carl in the lift.
Nathaniel tries in vain to speak through the gag to beg them to leave Marc alone. He twist his wrists as hard as he can to try to loosen the ropes but nothing helps. There is nothing he can do as they go after Marc. He hopes that Marc is smart enough to not fall into their trap and that he can save him.